FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CADBURY SCHWEPPES PLC - PAGE 4

Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and chief executive of the newly independent Kraft Foods Inc., said Monday that much remains to be done to make the company an attractive investment. "There is no question that we've got a lot of work to do," she said in an interview. "In the coming months we will just begin to tell our story and make investors feel that much more comfortable as an investment." But Rosenfeld added: "We feel terrific. We feel very confident that the plans in place are going to deliver long-term shareholder value."

Analysts said Monday that a sale of Hershey Co. appears even less likely than before now that the trust that controls the nation's largest candymaker has flexed its muscle by overhauling the firm's board. The Hershey Trust asked six directors to resign, and two others volunteered to leave, the company said Sunday. The trust then installed two of its own members, several people with deep roots in Pennsylvania, including former Gov. Tom Ridge, and others with experience in the investment world.

Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the world's largest confectionery company and the maker of Trident chewing gum, is in the midst of an auction of its U.S. soft-drink business. What comes afterward could shake up the American candy business. Analysts say the sale could net Cadbury as much as $16 billion, some of which the company is expected to retain to fund an aggressive expansion of its confectionery business. That fact has lead to speculation about potential targets. The company, for example, could be interested in looking at the Hershey Co. or Chicago-based Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. "Hershey is a very attractive target for Cadbury.

Is E.J. Brach & Sons here the next target for Cadbury Schweppes's acquisition assault on the U.S. market? With Brach on the block, Cadbury Schweppes has surfaced among the early prime candidates as prospective buyers of the Chicago-based candymaker. After American Home Products Corp. disclosed Friday that it had put Brach up for sale, the name of another corporate giant, RJR Nabisco, quickly surfaced within Brach's corridors as a potential buyer. However, insiders have identified Cadbury Schweppes PLC as a more likely buyer than RJR Nabisco, though it is not known if there have been any discussions among American Home, Cadbury and intermediaries.

What is "Project Cardinal" at Quaker Oats Co.? No, Quaker doesn't have any designs on St. Louis' major league baseball team. Rather, insiders say, Project Cardinal is the code name of a new effort by Quaker to deal with the gloomy prospect of unloading its ailing Snapple brand and/or its high-flying Gatorade to another company. PepsiCo Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Cadbury-Schweppes PLC and Procter & Gamble are some companies to whom Quaker might sell its beverages, sources say. These firms have the distribution globally to take on either or both of the Quaker drinks.

Nabisco may be sold soon: Philip Morris Cos., France's Danone SA and Britain's Cadbury Schweppes PLC have reportedly made preliminary offers for all or part of food company Nabisco Holdings Corp. Shares of Nabisco Group Holdings and Nabisco Holdings soared on the report.

Softer drink deal: Britain's Cadbury Schweppes PLC said it had watered down its soft-drink sale to Coca-Cola Co., cutting the price to $1.1 billion from $1.85 billion as a number of Western European markets were cut from the deal. Cadbury agreed last December to sell its soft-drink brands outside the United States, France and South Africa to Coke. However, the deal has hit regulatory hurdles in a number of countries, particularly Belgium and Germany.

A Pennsylvania appeals court adjourned Wednesday without ruling on whether to allow the sale of Hershey Foods Corp., which opponents say could hurt the company's namesake hometown. The seven-member Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court failed to reach a decision on whether to cancel an injunction issued by a lower court that prevents Hershey's owner from selling the company. The court gave no indication of when it would issue a ruling. The Pennsylvania attorney general has argued a sale could harm the town of Hershey and the surrounding community with potential plant closings and job losses.

PepsiCo Inc. said Tuesday it probably won't create a citrus soda to compete with Cadbury-Schweppes PLC's 7Up in the U.S. The remark quashed speculation that PepsiCo would develop a citrus-based drink, in addition to its Slice brand, to go against 7Up. Margaret Moore, Pepsi's vice president of investor relations, said Pepsi also hasn't decided to match rival Coca-Cola Co.'s move to have its bottlers distribute more of its own drinks....

After more than a decade of losing market share to Sprite, the maker of 7-Up plans to change the soft drink's flavor so it is crisper and not as sweet, a source close to the company confirmed Tuesday. Dr Pepper/Seven Up will announce the flavor change next Monday at a meeting of its bottlers in San Antonio, the source told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal first reported in Tuesday's editions that the company planned to reformulate the drink.